Kyle Yaxley

TLDR: This is a great game. Is it flawless? No. There are lots of ways I could see the team at SDS improve going forward, but it in no way deserves the negativity it has been receiving on launch (at least not on PS5, PC is a different story for now). Dead Space was my first real horror game when it came out way back when. Since then, this genre of videogames has been my favorite to dive into any chance I get. Dead Space and Resident Evil are my two favorite series of games. Needless to say, when Glen and the rest of the guys at Visceral formed SDS and announced Callisto, it immediately shot to the top of my most anticipated. Since picking it up, I have been playing it any chance I get and I have not been disappointed. However, a few words to the wise. First this game isn't Dead Space. It shares a lot of themes and aesthetics with its predecessor, but it does stand out as its own take on the horror genre of games. Second, this game is hard and its primary mechanic, the melee system, has a pretty steep learning curve. If you stick with it though and learn the enemy patterns, I promise you will get it and the game opens up. Trust me, I'm not the type to run naked through Bloodborne or Elden Ring using nothing but my fists but I completed a run on medium and now I'm running through on maximum difficulty. The story is great. It is well told and the acting is solid letting you believe the characters are in the universe they inhabit. None of the performances stand out as lackluster in my opinion. It is a simple and focused tale, like many other horror games, its main driving plot point is simply to escape. Only in the late stages does it open up a bit and hint at bigger things to come. It also has an ending that wraps up the main journey of this game and concludes Jacob's underlying arc. The game can be fairly linear early on, opening up a bit at the end. I feel this may be due to the decision to not incorporate a map which would have allowed for deeper exploration and well implemented backtracking through environs (a favorite of survival horror fans and something I hope is implemented more going forward). The game also has a limited roster of enemies. All of them are implemented well, but it will be nice to see more of what the team at SDS can cook up, which I'm sure they are for DLC and future entries to the series. Visuals and audio are some of the best I've ever experienced but performance on all platforms has some rough spots. In performance mode on PS5 it runs at or near 60fps consistently, with a few spots where you will have noticaleable frame rate drops. Hopefully this keeps getting patched, especially for those on PC where its more of a mess. Raytracing mode is still a trade off and not worth it IMO. However, this isn't limited to Callisto, hardware just isn't there yet. Bottom line is that despite a few rough spots, and having areas where I hope SDS will improve upon or add to, what is here is extremely well done and a freakin blast to play. It's not pureblooded survival horror, missing a few of those key elements, namely it pushes you to fight and rewards you for it. That being said this is a return to form for Glen and the guys. I am happy to finally have another series as a go to, along with Resident Evil and Dead Space, when I need to satisfy that itch for grim forboding horror and desperate fights against the monstrous hordes. I personally think this game sits at an 8.5/10, rising to 9 once the performance is ironed out. If they ever add in something like a map, more intricate levels, and some environmental puzzles, this series can easily reach 10/10 masterpiece for me.